Eastern India’s first solo exhibition of Padma Bhushan artist-designer Dashrath Patel marked the opening of Kolkata Centre for Creativity (KCC), one of the largest multi-disciplinary centres for art in Kolkata.

The retrospective exhibition, titled ‘School’, features a wide range of the celebrated Indian modernist’s work – line drawings, ceramics, collages and photography – created between the 1950s and 2010. Patel, who was the founder-secretary of National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, died in 2010.

“KCC intends to break the barrier between disciplines. Since we aim at bringing all disciplines of creative expression under one roof, the multi-faceted Dashrath Patel’s show is apt for its opening,” said architect Pinakin Patel, creative director of KCC.

The show focusses on Patel’s photographic works, which has been less discussed in comparison to his drawings, collages and designs. For photography, he had collaborated with none less than the French master Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Greek design Engineer Nassia Inglessis’s internationally acclaimed kinetic installation, ‘Disobedience’ – which is a 17-metres-long wall made from steel spring and recycled plastic – is also being exhibited.

KCC is spread across 70,000 square feet of floor space, which includes a 10,000 square feet gallery, apart from artists’ studio, exhibition space for art, craft, antiquity and designs and handicrafts, an amphitheatre, conservation studio, dance studio, library and space for performing arts.

“We hope it will become a creative destination for everyone – artists, designers, craftsmen, collectors, teachers, critics, curators, students and the general public,” said Richa Agarwal, executive director KCC and Emami Arts.